Urban Infrastructures: Criticality, Vulnerability and Protection. Report of the International Conference of the Research Training Group KRITIS at Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany

From the 7th to the 8th of February 2019, more than 70 scientists from different disciplines and countries came together for the international Conference “Urban Infrastructure: Criticality, Vulnerability and Protection” which was organised by the Research Training Group KRITIS at Technische Universität Darmstadt. The focus of the conference was on networked critical infrastructures (CI) in cities as socio-technical systems that require special protection strategies due to their vulnerabilities. Five multidisciplinary panels on Governance, Spatiality, Temporality, Safety and Security, and ICT Solutions elucidated urban CI protection. The keynote lectures by Per Högselius (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm), Jon Coaffee (University of Warwick; New York University) and Christoph Lamers (State Fire Service Institute North Rhine Westfalia) highlighted and deepened the aspects relevant to this context. Despite all the diversity of the contributions from many different disciplines, one aspect has always been prominent: the enormous complexity of urban CI. Regardless of the task at hand - governing and planning cities, creating security concepts and making cities more resilient - the complexity of the CI systems must always be considered. On the conference, civil engineers, computer scientists, urban and spatial planners, architects, sociologists, political scientists, historians and philosophers as well as practitioners from public administration, and operators of critical infrastructures made interesting suggestions on how to deal with the uncertainties involved. It also became clear that current challenges require approaches that cannot be found in a single discipline alone

Transformations of Infrastructure Systems: Report of the second International Conference of the Research Training Group KRITIS at the Technical University Darmstadt, Germany

On the 4th and 5th of November 2021, more than 50 scholars from different disciplines and countries came together in an online conference to discuss the multiple aspects of Transformations of Infrastructure Systems at the second international conference organized by the Research Training Group KRITIS at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. The focus of this conference was on the dynamic and changing nature of infrastructure systems and describing, understanding, and explaining transformation processes of infrastructures. Within the four multidisciplinary panels (Safety, Cultures, Governance, and both Temporality and Spatiality) the participants shared their research and knowledge on various aspects of transformation of infrastructure Systems. The conference gave an insight into the triggers of transformations and highlighted the conditions under which they take place and the consequences. The keynote lectures by Prof. Dr. Timothy Moss (Humboldt University of Berlin), Dr. Anique Hommels (Maastricht University), and Niklas Vespermann (Federal Network Agency, Germany) further highlighted and deepened the aspects relevant to this context

„Inkorporierung“ und „Normalisierung“ einer Protestbewegung am Beispiel der westdeutschen Umweltproteste in den 1980er Jahren

Social or protest movements are mostly analysed in their early stages and when they reach their highest visibility by direct action. The article is devoted to the decay of (successful) social movements. In addition to the well known concept of "institutionalisation" it presents two categories in order to guide the description, i.e. "incorporation" and "normalisation". Incorporation pictures the integration of the movement's actors or goals in existing political, social and institutional structures whereas normalisation considers the integration of the movement's values into predominant value systems. Both categories are meant to elucidate a double-sided process, including the movement's protagonists as well as the society as a whole, transforming both. These processes are exemplified by one of the most important social movements of recent contemporary German history, namely environmentalism during the 1980s. The focus is on the anti-nuclear movement, the debate on Waldsterben (= Forest Death) and on the Öko-Institut (ecological think tank and consulting agency)

Rendre contestataire la nature, ou comment l’écologie est devenue une “alternative” politique en RFA (1950-1980)

Jens Ivo Engels Die emotionale Dimension des Geschriebenen in der Sozialarbeit : zwischen Objektivierung und Repression In Deutschland war der Schutz der natürlichen Umwelt ursprünglich eine Angelegenheit konservativer, bildungsbürgerlicher Kreise, die den staatlichen Verwaltungen nahestanden und ihre Forderungen nur sehr vorsichtig in der Öffentlichkeit erhoben. An der Wende zu den 1970er Jahren hat eine Reihe von Medienprofis die alte, konservative Idee umdefiniert und für ein größeres Publikum zugänglich gemacht. Einerseits wurde der Umweltschutz als wichtiges politisches Thema akzeptiert, zum anderen stellten die Medien den Naturschutz nun als eine Protestform dar, die kulturell für alle akzeptabel blieb. Einmal in einen Modus für Protestartikulation verwandelt, diente der Naturschutz als Anknüpfungspunkt für einen neuen politischen Verhaltensstil der jüngeren Generation. Auf dieser Basis trugen die neuen sozialen Bewegungen ihre ökologischen Forderungen vor. Paradoxerweise war es das Inklusionsvermögen der Ökologie, das aus ihr eine kaum infrage gestellte Basis für Protest in der Bundesrepublik machte.Jens Ivo Engels Making Nature anti-authority, or how ecology became a political “alternative” in West Germany (1950-1980) In Germany, nature conservation was initially the province of a conservative, restricted and withdrawn circle, close to the authorities, and which was very prudent when it came to publicly exposing its demands. In the early 1970s, media professionals redefined the old conservative idea by opening it up to the masses. On the one hand, the environment was generally accepted as an important political issue ; on the other, the media presented nature conservation as a form of protest which was culturally acceptable for everyone. Once transformed into a mode of anti-authority expression, the idea of nature conservation was used as an anchorage point for a new political style among young people. New social movements built up their ecological demands on this basis. Paradoxically, it was its capacity for cultural (and political) inclusion that made ecology a basis for legitimate and inevitable protest in West Germany.Jens Ivo Engels Rendre contestataire la nature, ou comment l’écologie est devenue une “alternative” politique en RFA (1950-1980) À l’origine, en Allemagne, la protection de la nature était le fief d’un milieu conservateur, restreint, replié, proche des autorités publiques et très prudent quant à l’exposition publique de ses revendications. Au tournant des années 1970, des professionnels des médias ont redéfini une vieille idée assez conservatrice en l’ouvrant au grand nombre. D’une part, l’environnement était généralement accepté comme un sujet politique important ; d’autre part, les médias ont présenté la protection de la nature comme une forme de protestation culturellement acceptable pour tous. Une fois transformée en mode d’articulation contestataire, l’idée de protection de la nature a servi de point d’ancrage pour un style politique nouveau des jeunes. Sur ces bases, les nouveaux mouvements sociaux ont pu bâtir leurs revendications écologiques. Paradoxalement, c’était la capacité d’inclusion culturelle (et politique) qui a fait du sujet de l’écologie une base de contestation légitime et incontournable en RFA.Engels Jens Ivo. Rendre contestataire la nature, ou comment l’écologie est devenue une “alternative” politique en RFA (1950-1980). In: Revue des sciences sociales, N°37, 2007. (Re)penser l'Europe. pp. 90-98

Waechter, Matthias: Geschichte Frankreichs im 20. Jahrhundert, 608 S., Beck, München 2019.

Vorbei sind die Zeiten, in denen vertiefte Kenntnisse französischer Geschichte zum selbstverständlichen Kanon der Ausbildung von Historikerinnen und Historikern hierzulande gehörten. Kaum hat die Frankreichforschung in der Zunft den Stellenwert, der ihr aufgrund der Verflechtungen mit unserem westlichen Nachbarland gebührt

Introduction

International audienc